On "Flow," Continued from previous post.

"A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in consciously chosen goals cannot help but grow into a more complex being. By stretching skills, by reaching toward higher challenges, such a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary individual."

Good! But who or what enables a person to achieve such control? And why doesn't everyone do it? That is the paradox. One may think that such control can only be achieved by exceptional individuals. But that is like the seed and the tree problem. Because if it is such control over psychic energy that makes one extraordinary, it would also mean that only an extraordinary individual can achieve such control! Therefore, it is good to inquire whether the underlying knowledge is part of society's common heritage. If yes, then in what forms do they exhibit themselves?

Csikszentmihalyi says,

"To deal with these obstacles, every culture develops with time protective devices—religions, philosophies, arts, and comforts—that help shield us from chaos. They help us believe that we are in control of what is happening and give reasons for being satisfied with our lot. But these shields are effective only for a while; after a few centuries, sometimes after only a few decades, a religion or belief wears out and no longer provides the spiritual sustenance it once did. When people try to achieve happiness on their own, without the support of a faith, they usually seek to maximize pleasures that are either biologically programmed in their genes or are out as attractive by the society in which they live.... But the quality of life cannot be improved this way. Only direct control of experience, the ability to derive moment-by-moment enjoyment from everything we do, can overcome the obstacles to fulfillment."

Direct control of experience implies direct control of the content of consciousness. How we represent things to ourselves then becomes the most important factor in this control. It is always possible to represent anything in such a manner that it puts the brain in the most effective state for action. Proof of this is to be seen in the cases of individuals who have achieved extraordinary distinction in spite of overwhelming odds to the contrary. But the means society provides always gets averaged in numbers and in time and soon ceases to be as effective as it was when first envisaged. They have to be constantly revived in the light of fresh experience by every individual.